Under the Indian Government’s policy of ‘Make in India’ in key defence sectors, the Russian shipbuilding industry is ready to provide ‘critical’ and sensitive technology to India. Source: Slava Stepanov / GELIO

The India-Russia defence partnership is not limited to bulk supplying of arms, but an institutionalised system geared to make India a great power capable of defending its national interests on land, in air and sea.

Going by the mainstream media reports both
in India and Russia, prominent coverage is being given to the US overtaking
Russia as the biggest arms supplier to India. The reports make it look like the
prospects of bilateral Indo-Russian military-technical cooperation are bleak.
Further oil is being poured in the fire of this misconception by academics
relying on obsolete information, but which perfectly fits into the scheme of
the ‘sanctions crippled Russia’ rhetoric.

In this climate of negativity, Indian
Ambassador P.S. Raghavan’s interview to the Press Trust of India came as a ‘big
bang.’ The ambassador unveiled the agreement for manufacturing 200 Kamov
helicopters in India. Responding to the question about dilution of India’s
defence cooperation with Russia Ambassador Raghavan said,

“This (India-Russia ties) is a huge, broad
based relationship, getting broader every day… If two countries decide to
manufacture 200 helicopters in India with transfer of technology, and licence
production, this is big bang.”

Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
statement at his joint press conference with visiting Russian President
Vladimir Putin in December 2014 that Russia has been and will remain India’s
“primary” defence partner, Ambassador Raghavan also noted that more joint
projects are in the pipeline and will be announced when they are firmed up.

Related:

According to the latest media reports,
Russia has picked Anil Ambani’s Pipavav Defence Shipyard for building 3-4
Talwar Class stealth frigates of improved Project 11356 under a government-to-government
deal exceeding $3 billion. Earlier, Russia has built six stealth frigates of
this class for the Indian Navy.

My recent visit to St. Petersburg to attend
the biannual International Maritime Defence Show (IMDS-2015) in early July and
my interactions with officials of the Russian military industrial complex (MIC)
left a strong impression that their naval shipbuilders have taken Modi
government’s ‘Make in India’ challenge not only seriously, but also with
enthusiasm.

“Under the Indian Government’s policy of
‘Make in India’ in key defence sectors, the Russian shipbuilding industry is
ready to provide ‘critical’ and sensitive technology to India,” Deputy Director
General of the state arms exports corporation, Rosoboronexport (ROE), Igor
Sevostyanov declared on the sidelines of IMDS-2015.

“We already have a rich experience of
cooperation in the production of military aircraft in India, beginning from
MiG-21, MiG-27 and now Sukhoi Su-30MKI,” he added while also mentioning the
licensed production of T-90 main battle tanks in India

Sevostyanov, however, declined to comment
on the reports about the talks on the lease of second nuclear submarine to the
Indian Navy.

“Russia has never refused to give India,
what it asked for (its defence)”, Sevostyanov said, while interacting with a
group of Indian journalists.

Russia also does not rule out creation of
several shipbuilding joint ventures in India.

The history of India-Russia naval
cooperation goes back to 1960s, when Russia’s oldest submarine design bureau
Rubin and oldest shipyard Admiralty, both in St. Petersburg, built the first
four Foxtrot class (Kalvari class) diesel-electric submarines for the Indian
Navy.

The Rubin Marine Engineering Design Bureau
is a major centre for developing conventional and nuclear submarines and other
naval ships. Now Rubin is waiting for India’s tender for the P75-I project for
the indigenous construction of 6 new generation diesel-electric submarines.

“Along with the Admiralty Shipyard we will
field our new generation Amur submarine with Air
Independent Propulsion (AIP) system allowing it to remain
under the sea for a longer time,” Rubin Chief Executive Igor Vilnit said.

According to Vilnit, this submarine could
also be equipped with AIP being developed by India. “If India wishes, we can
also have provisions for installing Brahmos cruise missiles on this submarine.”

He believes that at least one submarine
would have to be built in Russia’s Admiralty Shipyards so that Indian engineers
and workers could learn the art of making hi-tech submarines, meanwhile the Indian
shipyard could be equipped with necessary machinery.

Admiralty Warf Chief Executive Alexander
Buzakov noted that they make four submarines in a year, while in the beginning
it could take up to four years building one submarine in India.

Both Rubin and Admiralty Shipyards have a
50-year long history of cooperation with India, when the Soviet Union supplied
the Indian Navy with its first Foxtrot class submarine INS Kalvari. So far it
has supplied 14 submarines including 10 Kilo class submarines.

“Our cooperation is forward looking. To
become a great power in Indian Ocean, India will have to increase the ratio of
its nuclear submarines in its subsurface fleet. If our governments take a
political decision, we are also ready to help in this,” Vilnit said. Russia’s most potent Borei class nuclear
submarine is also designed by Rubin.

At the same time with the help of Rubin, the
Zvyozdochka submarine and ship repairing plant is modernising the Indian Navy’s
Sindhughosh Kilo class type submarine in Severodvinsk. So far, four submarines
have undergone refit after which they can attack not only with torpedoes but
also destroy enemy ships and costal installations with Club cruise missiles.
One Kilo class submarine is undergoing mid-life refit at Vishakapatnam in
India, with help from Zvoyzdochka.

Zvyozdochka General Director Nikolai
Kalistratov dreams of creating a submarine repair centre in India, where not
only Indian naval submarines, but also Russian built submarines in service with
other foreign navies could be repaired.

Frigates, destroyers and submarines, both
conventional and nuclear are major assets of the naval force, but modern
warfare is an art of integration of battle assets.

Russia’s Morinformsistema-Agat is deeply
involved with the Indian Navy in developing its combat management system. Its CEO
and Chief Designer Georgy Antsev said many Indian Naval ships including Rajput
class destroyers are equipped with combat management systems of his company. He
is also enthusiastic about closer cooperation with India in integration of
assets, including in costal defence.

He also did not rule out the possibility of
integrating the Indo-Russian fifth generation fighter aircraft being developed
jointly, with the naval assets.

Like many Russian defence industry people,
Antsev also complained about the red tape in India, saying, “What should take
one year, takes five.” However, he noted that since the Modi government came to
power, things have started moving faster.

To cut the long story short, the
India-Russia defence partnership is not limited to bulk supplying of arms, but
an institutionalised system geared to make India a great power capable of
defending its national interests on land, in air and sea.

One thing is for sure that with growing
awareness of threats and challenges to India’s maritime security in
Indo-Pacific region, Russia will remain New Delhi’s prime partner in developing
Indian Navy’s long strategic reach.